Monument Type(s):

• AUGUSTINIAN NUNNERY (12th century to 16th century - 1100 AD to 1538 AD)
• HOUSE (16th century to Post Medieval - 1500 AD to 1901 AD)
• ROMAN CATHOLIC CEMETERY (Post Medieval - 1540 AD to 1901 AD)

Summary

Scheduled Monument and Grade I Listed Building: A fine example of a medieval nunnery site, White Ladies is unusual in that its architectural remains date mostly to the period of its foundation, the 12th century. The nearby 16th century house (now no longer standing) is famous for having sheltered the future Charles II after the Battle of Worcester in 1651, and the site has since been used as a Roman Catholic burial ground, showing its continued religious significance.

Related records

Associated Finds: None recorded

Associated Events

• ESA1249 - Undated field observation by English Heritage
• ESA1250 - 1959 field observation by the Ordnance Survey
• ESA1251 - 1975 field observation by the Ordnance Survey
• ESA1252 - 1986 field observation by English Heritage
• ESA6002 - 1990 Trial Excavation and ground survey at White Ladies Priory by Tong Archaeological Group (TAG)
• ESA6627 - 2011 remediation and recording of illegal excavations at White Ladies Priory, Boscobel, by Ironbridge Archaeology
• ESA8727 - 2018 Heritage at Risk Survey by Historic England
• ESA8625 - 2014 Heritage at Risk Survey by Historic England
• ESA8621 - 2015 Heritage at Risk Survey by Historic England
• ESA8361 - 2016 Heritage at Risk Survey by Historic England
• ESA8362 - 2017 Heritage at Risk Survey by Historic England
• ESA9067 - 2019 Heritage at Risk Survey by Historic England

Description

Scheduled Ancient Monument in Guardianship.
Ruined remains of the late C12 church of the Augustinian Priory of White Ladies, founded in early C12. Sandstone ashlar and coursed rubble. Original cruciform plan: aisleless square headed chancel, crossing, transepts and nave with later (C14?) south chapel and sacristy on north; walls to east, south and west added to enclose a post-medieval graveyard, probably in early C19. Chancel of 3 bays; north wall mostly stands to full height (see external corbel table) with pilaster buttresses and 2 string courses, round headed windows survive in 2 western bays; between central and eastern bays the fragments of an aumbry on the inside wall and beneath the central window the remains of an inserted late medieval doorway (blocked at the Dissolution), which probably led to the now demolished sacristy; the east and south walls have disappeared but the C19 graveyard wall rests on the plinth of the former. A fine round headed arch with responds and 4 orders of shafts (capitals decorated with leaf and partly of trumpet type) leads to the fragmentary remains of the north transept, the foundations of which are marked out in the turf; only the lower part of the south wall of the south transept survives, with the remains of a window and blocked recess below. Nave of 5 bays; north side without buttresses and 2 string courses above and below round headed windows,, which are complete in 3 eastern bays and fragmentary in penultimate bay from west; doorway in western bay, one order of shafts, lobed frieze to round headed arch; west side; remains of 2 windows above string course, broad buttresses; south side has pilaster buttresses, string course and external chamfered plinth; traces of 4 windows as on north, round headed doorway in western bay with one order of shafts and scalloped capitals. 2 medieval tomb lids with floriated crosses at the east end of the church. The Priory was dissolved in 1536-8 and the property passed into the hands of a succession of recusant families, the churchyard continuing to be used as a Roman Catholic burial ground until 1844. A house was built on the site in mid C16 and Charles II was brought here after his defeat at the battle of Worcester in 1651. This house was apparently demolished in the late C18 or early C19.; Boscobel and White Ladies Priory, H.M.S.O. Guide Book (1965). <3>

In 1990 Alan Wharton of the Tong Archaeological group excavated some trial trenches in the area immediately to the south of the currently scheduled area and demonstrated that building foundations do survive there, despite ploughing. <21>

Evaluated for MPP in 1990-1, as one of less than 10 Nunneries. <22>

Scheduling revised in 1997. Scheduling description: ->

-> The monument includes the ruined, earthwork and buried remains of the Priory of St Leonard at Brewood, generally called White Ladies Priory, the buried remains of the 16th century house and gardens that partly replaced it, and the ruined and buried remains of the burial ground to the south of the priory. The monument is situated on a gentle west facing slope south of Roman Watling Street, some 3.5km NNE of Albrighton. ->

-> The priory was founded in the late 12th century as a house of Augustinian nuns. It had a modest endowment and remained a small convent, however the standing remains show a remarkably high quality of craftsmanship in their construction and architectural detail, which had altered little since its foundation. The house had an uneventful history, and with an annual value of only around 17 pounds in 1535 it was dissolved the following year. Although there were still four nuns in the house in 1538, the convent was finally dispersed in May of that year, and the property was leased to William Skevington of Wolverhampton while the ownership was later granted to Henry VIII's solicitor-general, William Whorwood. However it was probably William Skevington who built the timber-framed house which is depicted in 17th century paintings and engravings, as White Ladies later passed to Edward Giffard, whose first wife was Skevington's widow. It was one of their descendants who sheltered the future Charles II at White Ladies during his flight from Parliamentary troops in September 1651. The property subsequently followed the descent of Boscobel House, which lies just over 1km to the north east, and although the house at White Ladies was demolished during the 18th century its gatehouse was still in use as a labourer's cottage in 1809. Ten years later when much of the estate was sold, the priory site remained in the ownership of the Fitzherbert family, and until 1844 the church was used as a Roman Catholic burial place. The site was placed in the care of the Secretary of State in 1938 and is open to the public. ->

-> The priory church is aligned east-west and had a five-bayed, aisleless nave, a quire, and a three-bayed, square-ended presbytery, with simple north and south transepts. The cloister was unconventionally attached to the north wall of the nave, in order to make use of the water supply which flowed south west through the shallow valley bottom to the north. The medieval fabric of the priory remains virtually unaltered by the construction of Skevington's timber-framed house which was attached to the east end of the church. A privy garden was created in the cloister and the house itself was walled around and provided with a timber-framed gatehouse to the south. In the 19th century a walled graveyard was attached to the south side of the church. ->

-> The standing remains of the priory are of coursed sandstone construction. Of the presbytery, all but the south wall stands to its full height, and on the north wall a row of external corbel stones indicate the position of the eaves of its roof. Each bay had a plain round-headed window, and those in the western bay remain intact, while a round-headed recess can be seen between the central and eastern bays. The jambs of an inserted doorway below the central window mark the access to a building, probably a sacristy, which was added between the presbytery and the north transept. A fine round-headed arch leads from the quire into the north transept, with columns of two half shafts and angle shafts to either side. The capitals are decorated in the Romanesque tradition characteristic of the 12th century, and the heavy but relatively unadorned carving demonstrates a thoughtful simplicity of design carried out with great skill. Parts of the east and west walls of the transept remain to either side of the arch, and a fragment of string course can be seen on the west wall. Elsewhere the foundations of the transept will survive below ground. Most of the south transept similarly remains as buried foundations, however the lower part of its south wall still stands, incorporated into the wall of the 19th century graveyard, and contains the remains of a window with a blocked recess beneath. The bays of the nave are marked externally by pilaster buttresses on the south wall, and each bay had a window in the north and south walls. The westernmost bay had a doorway to north and south, that in the north wall leading into the west walk of the cloister. It has a fine semicircular arch with cusped moulding which is more common in western France than England. The west wall of the church has two windows. ->

-> The position of the cloister is indicated by a square platform extending from the north wall of the nave. The absence of standing remains suggests the cloister was timber- framed rather than stone built,. And evidence for its extent will survive below ground. Further evidence for the cloister can be seen on the outer face of the north wall of the nave, where a weathering course at the level of the window sills indicates the line of the roof of the south cloister alley, and a row of corbels below it shows the position of the roof plate. The weathering turns upwards at the east end to accommodate the roof of the east alley, and at a higher level a second string course provides a hoodmould over the nave windows before again sloping upwards as weathering for the north transept roof. The priory church continued to be used for Roman Catholic burials until 1844, and the burial ground was to the south of the nave, enclosed by a wall which extends south from the west wall of the nave and eastwards incorporating the south wall of the south transept and the site of the south chapel. A number of grave covers have been found on the site, among them two dating from the late 12th to mid-13th century which now stand against the south wall of the transept, and headstones inscribed to William Pendrill, son of the William Penderel who sheltered Charles at Boscobel House, and his mother Joan. ->

-> To the east of the priory ruins, and now separated from them by the modern track, are the remains of a quarry scoop which has been cut into the natural slope, probably to provide building material for the priory. The southern end of this hollow has subsequently been modified by the addition of an earthen bank up to 1.2m high to form the north side of a fishpond which was fed by a spring from the south. Part of the west side of the pond remains as a short low stretch of bank, and would have completed what was once a roughly rectangular hollow measuring up to c.25m south west-north east by c.33m north west-south east. A low earthen bank continues north westwards from the back of the pond, and at its northern end are the earthwork remains of a second, larger, pond bay. The west arm of this bay remains as a substantial linear earthwork, c.50m long, up to 8m wide and c.1.5m high, which turns east at its southern end to form the beginnings of the pond's southern arm. Further east this arm has been reduced by ploughing and is no longer visible as a surface feature. This line of ponds, connected by the earthen bank, forms the north eastern boundary of the priory precinct. The now straightened water course which flows south westwards past the north end of the northern pond bay would have provided an important resource for the monastic community and also marks the north western edge of the precinct. The distinctly uneven ground to the north and north west of the priory ruins indicates the presence of subsurface foundations and rubble, the remains of the claustral buildings and ancillary structures such as barns and guest accommodation which would have occupied the precinct. Masonry visible in places on the path to the north east of the church indicates possible building foundations or drain remains, perhaps for the reredorter. The southern boundary of the precinct is no longer visible as a surface feature, and the southern extent of the monument is drawn out to include the extent of visible earthworks and buried features identified by excavation. ->

-> The 16th century house which was built near the priory no longer stands, however, 17th century engravings and paintings show it to have been a substantial timber-framed dwelling with a hall, cross range, and a two- storeyed porch attached to the east end of the church. The roof line of an ancillary building attached to the west end of the church can be seen on the outer face of the nave's west wall. The depictions indicate that the cloisters were incorporated into a walled privy garden, and that the house itself was surrounded by a wall with a timber-framed gatehouse opposite the porch. Evidence for both the house and gardens will survive below ground. Excavations to the west of the church, and the presence of brick and tile in the plough soil, indicate the presence of post-medieval building. In common with other high status dwellings of the period a grand approach to the house was created, in this case by modifying the western arm of the pond bay into a causeway which would have allowed the house to be admired from a distance. The remains of oak stumps recently removed from the earthwork indicate it was at one time planted to create an ornamental walkway, a tradition which may have originated in the early post-medieval period. The current path which runs along the west side of this causeway is later than the medieval earthworks and is probably an extension of the southern approach to the post-medieval house. ->

-> All fences around and across the monument, and the information board, are excluded from the scheduling, although the ground beneath them is included. <23>

A programme of remedial and recording work was carried out in early August 2011 on three areas at White Ladies Priory, Boscobel, which had been disturbed by illegal digging activity. The aim was to assess and evaluate the extent and significance of the disturbances on any archaeological features and context displaced as a direct result of this acitivty. Spoil was re-excavated for finds, loose spoil was removed, and scale drawings were prepared of the areas affected.->

-> Three areas had been subject to disturbance. WLP1 at SJ 82628 07596, represented an area 1.62m by 1.21m at the NE corner of the Priory; WLP2 at SJ 82595 07591, represented an area 1.57m by 0.59m along the remains of the West Wall of the priory; WLP3 at SJ 82618 07585, represented an area 1.56m by 1.49m along the north side of the Priory's south wall. ->

-> WLP1 was disturbed to a depth at a maximum level of 0.162m. Three contexts (all deposits) were disturbed within this area. In the spoil and out of context, two bone fragments were discovered, discarded, within the spoil heaped within the Priory’s north wall. This demonstrates a clear disturbance of the archaeology within WLPI; out of context and fragmented, the interpretation of these finds was hindered significantly by the actions of the excavators.->

-> WLP2 was the area disturbed to the deepest level at a maximum of 0.23m. Digging through and disturbing four contexts within this sandstone feature, excavators had disturbed the archaeology at this site in terms of deposits and finds; sandstone masonry and mortar, probably fallen from the surrounding walls during the Priory’s deterioration. Finds within the spoil did not reveal anything of consequence, despite the relatively deeper level of excavation compared to WLP1 and WLP3. ->

-> WLP3 was disturbed to a level of 0.195m, but only through one context level; the topsoil. However, this site had the densest concentration of finds with a complex uncovered of sandstone masonry, some of which was displaced and left within the spoil. While only one context was disturbed, the archaeology and formation of the south wall’s collapse has been displaced through the illegal excavations that took place at WLP3. <24>

Ruins photographed during aerial survey in 2009. <25>

Shropshire Archives hold 2 watercolours of White Ladies Priory (References 6001/372/3/79; 6001/372/3/80), by Reverend Edward Williams, dated to 1791. Small-scale thumbnails can be found via their online catalogue: https://www.shropshirearchives.org.uk/collections/getrecord/CCA_X6001_19_372C_79; https://www.shropshirearchives.org.uk/collections/getrecord/CCA_X6001_19_372C_80 <26>

Sources

Search results generated by the HBSMR Gateway from exeGesIS SDM Ltd.